I just finished photographing some of the expanded bullets from my test of premium 458 caliber bullets (see the Nickudu files).

I noticed that the original 400 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw made by Federal for Jack Carter had the dark redish color of a pure copper and/or a well annealed bullet while the new 500 grain Trophy Bonded by Speer had the shiney look of a 95-5 gilding metal as used in most tin foil bullets.

Do any of you guys have original 500 gr TBBC's???

(Not the solid but the bonded bear claw).

If so would you let me know if it is a highly polished gilding metal or more like a pure copper jacket???

I ask because I was so disapointed in the performance of the 500 gr Trophy Bonded by Speer. It blew off the mushroom which folded back alongside the bearing surface. It was very brittle and had the second lowest frontal area of all the bullets. (Only the 400 gr Barnes X had less frontal area).

Ive used alot of .223, .257 and .308 TBBC's and they work great. Nothing like this 500 gr by Speer.

Thanks for feed back.

Andy

I have some .284 old trophy bonded bullets loaded in my 7x57 and they are dull and look more like pure copper..I only shot one or two deer and maybe an antelope with them some years back and they performed excellently but indicated to me that they might lack enough penitration to satisfy me and this was due apparantly to the large cross section of the expanded bullet..I looked for those old expanded bullets to photograph and send to you, but like most things in my shop they have apparantly gone where odd bullets, expanded bullets, bottom metal and old barrels go..the grimlins hide them you know.

I have some nine year-old 500 gr. TB Bearclaws that look like they have pure copper jackets.

AD

Ditto on Allen's response. I have a bunch of 500gr. TBBC's I loaded several years back and they are very dark now.

Same here. My two year olds are much darker (almost reddish) than Woodleighs or Hornadys (which look almost yellow). I don't have any newer TBs to compare them to, though.

Thanks to you all,

The color difference may just be oxidation but I dont think so. I sawed the Speer in half, and the cross section looks good with a tappered well supported base, yet it sheared off at just 2400 fps. Maybe I'll send a copy of the article to Speer for comment. If they changed the data package they need to go back to the drawing board!

Thanks again.

Andy